from mr. sr. more quickly than those weapons of mass destruction that he once said were hidden in iraq. what comes next? traveling on separate planes to campaign events, where enthusiasm is low and tension is high, the false slesnd prensef lff that only survives when the cameras are on them? and then some final bickering and a bitter divorce. romney and ryan, a marriage of convenience, if ever there was one. thanks so much for watching. chrimattws inext breaking away. let's play "hardball." ♪ good evening, i'm chris matthews in washington. leading off tonight, i want you to watch and listen to the next few minutes here. it may be the most important thing you see and hear in this

entire campaign. it's a sharp taste of what's being used to defeat president wtgra. wh if obama is so outside our comprehension that only if you understand kenyon anti-colonial behavior can you begin to piece together his actions. and -- s h ife,au like to have himho ifca the pulled one of the great cons in the history of politics. >> and -- >> i wish this president would love how to be an american. >> and -- >> no one's ever asked to see my birth rtificate. >> and this rank twees, obama sympathizes with attackers in egypt. and then last night -- >> he's not a real president. >> tonight on "hardball" we show you the true ugly campaign being run agnst the president. tath awo big new of this ugly poll numbers running in his direction. we give them to you tonight.

let's check the hardball scoreboard. according to a "new york times"/c/quinnipiac poll, obama leads romney by t points. down iflorida, t psi's le tol is nine, 53-44. the president looks to be opening up a big lead now, even in the face of this coordinated attack from the right. with me now are mother jones bureau chief and msnbc politic contritoravor cynthia tucker. i want to talk about the good news for the obama team right now. cynthia, why do you think -- take a minute here -- despite is ugly campaign i've just pointed out in its pattern, its thread, what they a doing to try to delegit miz this president, why is he doing well in the toughest states? >> we've talked about what campaign has done wrong.

we haven't spent as much time talking abouthe things obama has done right. obama has done a lot of things right. for one thing, he's just a stronger candidate. he relates to peop better. he's more approachable. his favorability rates are hier,hile rney h h vobility ratings. but obama actually has a set of principles he believes in. so, he has a message that he carries out on the campaign trail over and over again. mitt romnedoesn't appear to have anythhe belvein s campaign flip-flopping. obama makes early moves that are -- >> i understand you -- >> -- that are doing well for him. >> i believe you understand they made a smart, strategic move to go after t 1% a go after faness and the wholeopulous campaign that was pushed and deni anduestney a the establishment. obama pushed ahead without saying, no, this is what this campaign's about.

>> absolutely. you know, there were docratic big wigsaying, don't attack bain. billlinton had meg, y kn, noenthiast ty t but obama was -- kept hitting romney on the bain message. he knows what he believes. he wouldn't be thrown off course by a little bit of bickering from the peanut gallery. thadrk so did the auto bailout, particularly in ohio. that's an early move obama made that republicans criticized, mitt romney was against it. ffceoh cacmaking a hug >> let me get a look at the latest poll and bring in david. a new washington post poll has president obama out front in ohio and florida. inside the numbers we see how the president has hitome with ohio voters on understanding economic problems people are

amatom 31 on w. connecting on their problems. 51 points in florida -- actually, 15. on handling taxes, president obama beats romney by a wide margin, 17 points in ohio. in florida it's closer, leads by one. atne by 1 in ohio, 15 in florida. what i understand, looking at the differential, florida has a lot of retired people, obviously. very sensitive. in a sense, ohio has people who can't afford to get down to florida in the wintertime. their social security, medire, and maybe if the lucky, some pension d savings. >>ou know, we've talked about this for months now. after the 2010 electi, obama sat down and thought about what his message is, his vision is, his strategy going into 20 1237 th whairo a in "showdown" and he's stuck to this with such devotion and passion, because he believes in it.

there's a real distinction between him and republicans when it comes to all those issues you just talked about, but these are value-dren differences. not just policydifferences. fiu want to dosith t i want to do that. it's like the reason i want to do this is because i have a different set of values than republicans. >> what are those values? spell them out. >> using government as a communal progressive force to protect the safety net and to come tether and invest in innovation, education, infrastructu. we'rint together. versus the ryan budget, which used as a stand-in first republican nominee, which says we're on it alone, get rid of government and give you aa vouch voucher, find medicare on your own. here comes romney and he sort of fits the mold. he's a 1peen he so empathy, even before the 47%. >> a pure market guy. >> they use bain, from the beginning, as cynthia noted, as a value. he's out there making mone i'm thinking of wermes n bloberg goal that has

president obama leading mitt romney by six points nationally. for one big reason, half of the polls say they have an unfavorable view of mitt romney. bloomberg rerts, this is a september high for a presidtial challenger in the lasthree decades. bloomberg quotes a 40-year-old insurance agent from virginia, self-described libertarian on why she's going to vote for obama. now, this isn't cheerleading for obama by any means but explains romney's problem. if i have to choose beeen the thmiomis so out ofoba ov touch. it's mostly a protest against him and the republican establishment. it's not that i think obama has done such a great job. here's an independent speaking. romney's high unfavorable numbers can be linked to awkward and cringe-inducing moments in debates and on the campan trail. les lienso >> risck, i'll tell you what, 10,000 bucks? $10,000 bet?

>> i'm not in the betting business. >> we could raise taxes people. that not -- >> corporation! >> corporation! >>ortiarople, my friend. ♪ o beautiful for spacious skies for amber waves of gra ♪ ♪ for purple mountains majesty ll don't know why he got into the fruited plain there, but de. the problem is not so much his singing voice, which is not wors or better than my own, i must say, but heoes say things like instinctively when you let romney be romney, bet you 10,000 buckqu p the table, i've got it in my wallet. this thing about corporations being people. no, they're not. corporations fire people. corporations are bottom line institutions. >> he's a very rich guy who just doesn't relate to the struggles of ordinary people. and because he has had this

problem for months now, has shown up in the polls, that's what made this 47% remark so absolutely devastating for him. it played into the larger narrative thatitmn some rich guy, who's very condescending about people, who are not in his fortunate circumstances. you know, there's so much things wrong with the 47% remark, it's hard to cover them all. buone of them is,ere'a g who'albo pe who don't pay anything in taxes and he refuses to disclose very much about his own taxes. we still don't know what romney was paying in 05, 2006, how many tax shelts he e no things the average american relates to. and they don't believe that he has a plan for helping them. >> they releas a new -- i want you to respond to this ad

because this is the kind of ad you run wn you'reosin atstin aen look at this. they released this ad, the romney people today. it appears to be an effort to contain the damage done by what you just said, cynthia, 47% disclosure they didn't want to disclose. let's listen. >>si o aoth care about poor and middle class families. the difference is, my policies will make things better for them. we shouldn't measure compassion by how many people are on welfare. we should measure compassion by how many people are able toet ofweare and gegood pa j >> who measures compassion by how many people are on welfare? who is the stru mory man they'r trying to argue with? >> they're trying to make ail caricature out of president obama calling him thfood smp prid themin m tto whthmaomes home, finds her husband in bed with his best friend and he says, honey, it's not as bad as it

looks. you have the 47 -- >> is that a joke or true life story? >> i'm sure it's happened once or twice. u have the 47% remark with romney speaking and other peoe haai ,otus me, with complete conviction and passion, telling people what he really thinks. and then you have this guy sitting in front of a camera, reading a script. you have to ask, okay, do they expect people touy this now? this is - >>poca i h elephant's memory for politics. fortunately or not, it's made my career. in 1960 this is exactly what richard nixon said in his debate with jack kennedy. i share jack kennedy's mission. i share his concerns. have the same goals. people at he are cringing,hy gg him money, why am i voting for a guy who has the same goals as another guy. cynthia, youill probably not remember the nixon/kennedy debates, but you don't say the other guy is a good, compassionate guy and he ces about people. i do, to

m like him. if you believe he's co compassionate, i am too! he's selling obama. >> you say is that if you don't have anything else to say, chris. another thing the bloomberg poll show ihaer -or voters believe that barack obama has a concrete plan for helping the middle class than believe that mitt romney has such a plan. that's another problem mitt romney has. he hadxpected that the eno uld win thelecon him all he would have to do is go to people and say, i'm not barack obama. i can do a better job. in fact, he needed to do a lot more. obama has laid out specific oposals. he's h a ms now, but mitt romney has been very vague about his proposals for helping the middle class.

>> you know what, this strikes me, just thinking now, listening to cynthia, he seems to are been running this campaign for the last six months as someone who pe terldt him. not that he would have to sell himself, his plan, his ideas. that the voters would want him as a white knight, coming in and rescuing the company, that is, the u.s. economy. and he didn't have to do much beyond that. as he's finding out,hat' not wheelaf you want to be leader of the united states. >> there are chinks in his armor, by the way. he didn't count on the knight from arkansas showing up either, bill clinton. >> sir lancot. >> sir lancelot showed up in the fields and he's nhe gous with. thank you, to complete the last reference to that metaphor. coming up, more right wing vitriol. newt gingrich said president obama ist a real prident, he said that last nigh hays

he's a false president. when will this right wing effort stop to stop the legitimacy of this president? we'll talk about the relentless campaign. also, the lead president obama enjoys in the polls may be helping democrats on other job races like senate. nde e fortunates are ne senat on the rise, wisconsin's tammy baldwin. mitt romney isn't succeeding as a solo act so the romney campaign is putting mitt romney anpaul ryan on the campaign trail toeshgs a karaoke duet, i guess. what does it tell you the big aw othe puanke nuwo guy? let me finish tonight with how the democratic party has a huge opportunity to grow after this election. this is "hardball," the place for politics. by working people. the economy needs manufacturing. machines, tools, people making stuff. companies have to invest in making things. we need it now more than er. chevron's putting more than $8 billion dollars back in the u.s. economy this year. in pipes, cement, steel, jobs, energy.

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i spoke earlier tonight about this attempt on the right wing by the right wing do delegitimatize president obama. let's take a sampling from what i call the hal of shame, all attempts to declare him, o president, not an american. >> i would like to have him show

his birth certificate. >> if you're for paychecks, you're with us. if you're for food stamps, you're with obama . >> i wish this president would learn how to be an ameran. >> no one's asked mir certificate. >> this talk and false welfare ads is what president obama faces in the next 41 days. alex wagner host of "now" on msnbc and eugene robinson is a pulitzer prize winning columnist forthe washingtont. anksornings gh you know, i just wonder, why is there so little note of what's clearly a pattern in this campaign? on one side this constan revening the president is not an american. never stops. birthesm, and oheth sihi attempt to suppress the minority vote. it's clearly an attempt to win an election in as ugly as possible way and no one seems to

talk about it. >> well, it's shameful. i think that there -- to some degr there has been a faiy robust discussion about the votefrst dra d, y know, progressives have managed to beat back republican efforts to disenfranchise thousands if not millions of voters. but the pside is not er, under the spell of muss lichl, and the fifth highest documentary of all time which purports the president to be anti-american, kenyan revolutionary in the vein of his father, barack obama sr. rts been furthering since barack obama was a candidate with the jeremiah wright stuff. it's doubling down on incredibly divisive racialized otherized brand of politics that doesn't serve the republicans wl this t e wthon eut ryoe

term. this party, i don't see what the future of the republican party is if these are the spokes people, the newt gingrich, the donald trumps of the world. >> you know, gene, it didn't start here, of course. there was an attempt, nixon what he would say about addly stevens in the '50s,ed sas used obviously. they weren't one of us. bill clinton was accused of sneaking off to russia, remember that, back when he ran. he was some sort of red. mike dukakis was a guy that wouldn't pledge allegiance to the united states, somehow a card-carrying member of the aclu. l ts dadf reg. they're not really one of us. but then with the ethnic factor, because he has the african name and he's black, the doubling down on this, well, he's not one of us. >> right. race adds to this, tthe armament they're using . 's augeto is but what i think is interesting is that this seems to resonate with the hate obama crowd but doesn't seem to be ronating a lot with other folks.

and -- >> it already has. li. why are- yer why do they keep putting out this stuff? why is newt out there the other night, he's the craziest -- not the craziest, the meanest. to use a kid's words, but he is, saying he's not american. sununu who looks like their n' l ho be an g sa, american? they don't say that about walter mondale, didn't say that about each other. they said that about bob dole. >> they don't say it in this way. they're throwing this against the wall and hoping it will stick. again, it seems to charge up the pe w hea mup their minds, made up their minds years ago. >> here are the smart guys in -- i guess, boston. mitt romney has been running red meat ads on dicare. this is fds thshe he says it's feeding his base, obama.

>> here he is in 1996 president clinton and a bipartisan congress helped end welfare as we know it, by requiring work r welfare. on july 12th president obama lf rmy dropping work lan tut requirements. under obama's plan you wouldn't are to work or train for a job. they just send you your welfare check. and welfare to work goes back to being plain old welfare. mitt romney will restory the work requirement because it works. >> s a w peopl it's. thory wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, but when that ad actually ran and hit the air waves romney defended it to "usa today's" susan page and in the interview romney said, quote, romney defends the welfare a as curate, accusing obama of ofringtateai a political calculation degned to, quote, shore up his base, which is code for african-american democrats. so, there you have an ad with all whites in it. romney comes out himself and says, this is s he can feed his base by saying, wll get rid of

the work requirements f pe o welfare. can you obama giving a big speech to the guys in the inner city, guess what, ladies and gentlemen, i'm getting rid of the work requirement. yea! 's a totally ridiculous, demeaning idea, demeaning to bothecntf wreho take it and a president accused of using it to shield and trying to get votes with it. it's so demeaning. >> it's an update of the ronald reagan welfare mean, same raishl racialized politics mitromn habelang t l t, months. is is the -- the welfare requirement, the idea the president is abolishing it, he is taking a gop prescription for reforming welfare and putting it in place, which is giving me power to the states. you know, the details of that, the fact that tons of things the presenhasmbraced alte conservative ideology has been a completely lost or disavowed by the

republican party. i mean, they -- mitt romney has to win 60% of white voters and will stop at nothing to shore up every white vote he can. and that includes playingo the west card in theck,ch is incredibly racially charged, incendiary rhetoric designed to stoke hatred and fullment, i guess, enthusiasm to get folks out to the polls. >> gene, look at this. every time i see this, i see it infrequently, i cry. i've been accused of being t otl ttics. four years ago, john mccain stood up to a supporter who called then-senator obama an arab. here's his instantaneous, instinctive reaction. take a look. >> i hav read about him and he's not -- he's a -- he's an arab. he's not -- >> noma'am. >> no? >> no, ma'am, no, ma'am. he's a decent, family man, citizen that i just happen to have disagreemes with on fundamental issues.

that's what this campaigisll abou >> yeah, that's called honor. it's called honor. we're not seeing a lot of that. we're not seeing any of that. >> i haven't seen that on either side in this campaign. >> john cain is a genuine guy. m,evitalled him, agree wit honor. the republican party used to believe in that. >> put it more crudely, there's some crap i won't eat. i'm not going to go along with what i see as is an ethnic campaign, that shouldn't be part of this campaign. i'm not going to go along with what you said. thatnstitio,, i t grstrispit. i'm not going to do that. >> imagine mitt romney doing that. >> i would like to see every politician do that onc in their life. thank you for coming on, alex wagner. you were great. thank you, gene. we'll be right back.

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make an emergency landing. >> mitt used this close call to present a bold idea. >> when y h a f in an aircraft, there's no place to go exactly. there's no -- and you can't find any oxygen from outside the aircraft to get in the aircraft because the windows don't open. i don't know why they don't do that. >> just as kennedy challenged us to put a man on the moon -- weostoohe moon in thi decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard. >> mitt romney is now challenging us to add power windows to the delta shuttle. not because it is easy! but causits imssib! >> back to "hardball." once again, mitt romney, if you heard them there, proves to b one of the only people on earth, earth lings, who says aircraft

when he's talki about a plane he's been on. wi today's republican candidate in mind let's bounce back to the 1951 sci-fi "the day the earth stood still" when an alien touches down on earth. here's a refresher. >> i came hereo give you these facts, but if u thateno ndr en this earth of yours will be reduced to a burned out cinder. >> i don't know about you, but i can't help but see mitt romney there. let's take a look at a snapshot from that movie. there's aayedyha reie a he looks like a candidate with a 1950's sci-fi doble-gainer. back to earth. francois hollande weighed in on the u.s. presidential race nde endse.lm coses here's what he said to reporters at the u.n. yesterday when asked

if he knew about mitt romney's attacks on socialism. quote, yes, that's why i'll be careful not to say anying at all on this subject because as you'd imagine i a socialist supported one of these two candidates, that would cost him dear. so i suppose i should endorse mitt romney but i won't. finally talking to extremes, how did minnesota's lieutenant governorlon ramp up extra publicity for an event to help support military families? we'll call it a high-profile arrival. let's take a look. that's not on my bucket list. skydiving. lieutenant governor teamedp with a u.s. army parachute team to skydive at 120 miles per hour. anyway, from an altitude of about 130 13 sthou feet, right

onto thene s cal nd she llow theive th a speech, encouraging people to support military families across the country. good for her. up next, president obama's uptick in the polls is helping democratrun for office across the country. we'll talk to wisconsin senate candidate tammy baldwin. you're watchg "ba t you're watchg "ba t plfoli. they'll live tomorrow. for more than 116 years, ameriprise financial has worked for their clients' futures. helping millions of americans retire on their terms. when they want. where they wa. doing what they want. ameriprise. the strength of ad inetent planni. e heart of 100advisors working with you one-to-one. together for your future. ♪ the entirely new lexus es and the first-ever es hybrid.

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cnbc market wrap. the dow falls, had &p down eight. google bucked the losing trend on wall street to close at an all-time high, above $750 a share. two firms are raising their price target on the stock to $850 a share. good news for drivers but not vestors,hougyou uld be th. uderipp ag they're off more than 9% in less

than two weeks. and sales of new homes ticked lower last month but prices soared a record 11.2%. that's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. now back to "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." the battle for united states senate comes down to a handful of races across the cntry a republicans neo net just e t races is in wisconsin, if they win the present seat but momentum has shifted in recent weeks to democratic candidate, congresswoman tammy baldwin leading her republican challenger, tommy thompson, by poll points in the latest ppp congresswoman baldwin joins us right now. you seem to be doing pretty good in wisconsin, a state causing so much noise in the last couple

years because of public employees. how does that affect your race, scott lker, unions on side, public employee/unions, how does that affect the interest voters are having in this year's election? >> wl, i think we've seen voters in wisconsin engage more than ever before. we've, as you said, had a lot going on in our state. a lot on the ba. in habou the future and jobs and the economy. so, i think it's, if anything, going to actually increase voter turnout and participation. we're always a high participation state, but i think we're gog to see it gr. >>ou k ias a deatoniown charlotte covering for the network, and i was taken by -- sure, there were a lot of good speeches but the one that seemed to move people, didn't have any rhetoric, it was common sense, it was bill clinton. what effect do you think bill clinton had on talking about peop'shaengeand whe idsedoffice? >> he gave an amazing speech. and what was really important

about it is just matter of factually walking through the legations that have been raised, coming back with responses. i mean, there's been so much misleading information, especially from the rht w supacs and special interests. he just methodically went through it all. i have to say my favorite line from his speech was about balancing budgets. it's based on arithmetic. you may not know this, chris, but i was a math majo a double major in math and rnme. t it. wee t mhidd uf we're going to get our economy back on track, start cating jobs and attack our deficit. >> let's take a look at this. in the midst of mitt romney's 47% fallout, what people found out what he really thoug i tt ,0 b to get in the door, tommy thompson tossed blame on romney for his own sliding poll numbers. the guy running agast you is blaming the guy running against obama. let's watch him in abeings. >> the presidential thing is bound toave an impact on every

election. you ow,thou crr republican. if you're stand bearer for the president is not doing well it's going to reflect on the down boll ballot. >> right now, obama leads romney by seven points in wisconn. u'rangry ct do you think - whe working 24 hours a day practically campaigning, your head is around meeting people, remembering names, being nice to people, and trying to think. the other thing going on the whole time, they're trying to think to makeheir president. how does that get into pple's minds, do yothink, when ey'r tng you? >> yeah, i have to tell thyou tt when people are focusing onhe u.s. senate race they're asking themselves a couple basic questions, whose side are you on? who's fighting for the hard working middlelass families of wisconsin? they know i'm on their side and that's what i've ne. eyalrn aot t what tommy thompson has been doing for the last decade of his life. he left wisconsin and joined the

bush administration. in his service there, he gave the drug companies a sweetheart deal with the medicare part "d" program. ar wh t drug legal for mar companies in order to get better prices for seniors. and then he did the revolving door. he's been working at a big lobbying rm, making millions of dollars representing those powerful interests that already have too much say inwashington. os side are you on? they are figuring out i'm squarely on their side. that's the fight i've always taken. >> good luck out there. you're doing very well. you're moving up in the polls, making it happen. tammy baldwin, running for senator in wisconsin. polls are moving. > m n a man who's very nonpartisan, trying to figure this out, msnbc political analyst and politics editor chris cirilli. like you, i watch these races all the time and i'm con founded ssseneut , so many races like

nevada, certainly montana, north dakota, missouri, are all to me within the margin of error. they all look close. >> yeah, it's kind of interesting, chris, because i think congresswoman baldwin has benefitted from this. ye overas 2 1/2, 3 weeks, move nationally at the presidential level and in swing states to president obama, you've seen down ballot, tim kaine ivirginia, tammy baldwin in wisconsin move as well. what's interestg, as you mentioned, connectit, b st dotnk -- i'm from connecticut. linda mcmahon is republican nominee, she ran in 2010 and lost in a very good republican year. she's remarkably close at the moment to the congssman chris murphy, which you wouldn't think, given the last couple o weeks. i meroadly senate candidates have benefitted but there are exception. >> is that women saying it's about time we have a woman in senaterom connecticut?

i think she can win. i want to remind people as i did to some of our producers today, even in years where one party wins thepresenthar pe tco of nowhere and win in the other direction. joe biden won that senate seat athe age of 29 and hasn't lost since in the governor year so the lle people that gohe other way. >> wou s holyri anhate to be so bottom line about this, but i think the best thing linda mcmahon has going for her is she can continue to write as many checks she likes. she's very, very wealthy. she spent $50 million in the 2010 cpaign and she'sun agt y 's w knn. >> she's bigger. >> yeah, she's a big figure and, look, she's spending tens of millions of dollars on tv. it's a fascinating outliar. you think everything shifted towards democrats and i would say broadly -- is she pro-choice or pro-life, where is she on the

abortion rights? >> did not talk about it, i believe -- >> wow. >> she focuses exclusively as a businesswoman. she shouldn't talkbout it in nncutec s't win on that issue. >> massachusetts, as murky as ever with scott brown. same as -- totally murky. thank you very much, the pro around here. up next, paul ryan revs up republicans. mitt romy, not so much. what's going on betwe these iss iage wog? wing all right but i'm not sure this thing is working. we'll be back to figure out if ryan is on top or romney in this fight.

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we're back. were thrilled when mitt romney took their advice and picked u.s. congressman paul ryan as ichepa cam under criticism, they begged him to unleash the young conservative star, ryan. today comes news of romney/ryan infusion. the two will be spending more time together on the trail in the coming weeks. wi this doubleact, energize the campaign? michael sheerer writes for "time" magazine. michael, you first, i was impressed when he picked a guy, it showed guts, picked a conserve tifr with aeal agenda, a real word on the buet, tricky stuff lik medire ces a t he had his good speech. they both had good speeches together. and then he seemed to have a one-might stand with the guy and split. now he's back saying we're dating again, we're going to

show up together. what's that about? >> remember that week when they first came together, the word from the campaign, the press was bold is aolpick. the idea was, you bring ryan in and he -- you make mitt romney, who's never been conservative, golden boy into a union leader, ideological leader. >> but they didn't really dig b in. >> they thought they had done it omait especiallyuldovway on the issue of medicare which is a very delicate dance for them, especially in states like florida. i think what they've seen in the last few weeks is the story about mitt romney personally. they turned it back, they are hong into a story about the ey putting forward. ideas >> john nichols, if you go back into ryan territory, you do risk what is there waiting for you. a family member says -- a doctor told me said, this is a real problem. medicare, messing around with people's insurance, which for most people is medicare i ngserry fny

candidate for president. >> i think it is incredibly dangerous and i would remind folks that paul ryan was given a task over these last few weeks and that waso secure the state of iowa. he went to iowrepeatedly, mpedre l the state fair and events around -- even in smaller cities and at the end of the process, we get polling that shows romney/rya to be down 8, 9 points in iowa so the notion that paul ryan brings a magic to this ticket i think is bin to fade. >> i don't think he believes he's magic bus he's run are for re-election of the united states congress even though he's running for vice president. anyway, if you heard ryan, the ad he had running with the the eypaigwould y think iwa thag heree is up and running for his own congressional campaign in case he doesn't make it to pennsylvania avenue or to the vice president's house. let's ta a look. >> can america afford the path we're on? >> our country has a critical

decision to make. will we lve set br lianomh rties have made empty promises that will soon become broken promises if we fail to take action now. we must take action to prevent the most difficult cris in promotes a culturef dependency. we need a culture of accountability and personal responsibility. >> so if governor romney gives a concession speech, i hope we get to cover them all because it's true and people know this really happeneded, somebody lost and somebody won, he will say, sorry, governor, i've got too mic speech. it's going to be so weird. >> to be fair, i think joe biden ran ads in delaware in 2008. >> did he? >> i think he did. so you can do this and you're absolutely right. >> let me do the math on that. that w the yr for him. go ahead. yais setting himself up to

be -- ryan is setting himself up here to be what he has always wanted to be win or lose. so the election doe't determine ryan's fate. if romney loses, there's going be a huge chorus for the republican party saying it was just that guy's fault. it's not our ideas, it's not -- >> whose fault? >> mitt romney's fault. >> that's what i think. john, you're ready for the nation, not a right win ger, but they won't say that ryan has too much weight on the ticket. they will sayt didn't hav enghdeiceigh >> i think you're right about that but i also think that paul ryan is worried about that issue. and, you know, paul ryan is a very ambitious political player. he's a nice guy,ard worker, i think much more disciplined than mitt romney. rng and does pushups.0nhe it's pretty amazing. >> and hundreds of them. while watch you rage against the machine. but is he a disciplined player with a political career track. i think he is worried about being in the bottom of a badly

sing tiet. yoknow iideao that well for sergeant shriver after running with mcgovern in '72. my sense is that he wants to get out there and be more oufrt. whether that cates aio t kn e n question at one point mitt romney and paul ryan really liked one another and really thought they were going to gel. we have not seen that yet and, frankly, they need to do that in october if they are to begin to turn this campaign around. >> is this important to you? do you think they need to lk li they like each othe look like a duet?cs >> i haven't seen anything that says they don't like each other. they seem to be getting along with each other on the bus. >> there's one person who we call conviction politician. that's ryan. nobody would ever cal m rovinolitician ever. they are not to be confused. thank you. when we return are, when i return, let me finish with the

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it see that themoctic rty a oortunity to gw this election. most of the focus has been the changes made in the republican party, how it's moving from a center right party to an all out right wing part have the

moderates have died off and tea parters have become the mainstre. al tha happened and there's no denying because the republican party is morphing into a right wing party. the are a lot of people out there who would not call themselves liberal but are prmatifor at libals a fo they rely on social security and for purposes of long-term care, medicare, they care about good health care and want to do a good job of what the eat and the science they studied in sc ahey don't want a big chunky government telling them how to live. so if the democrats are smart, even reasonable, they will make the biggest grab in history for the people that the new right wing party is leing behind as it shifts further and further leaving the lecy of bry goldter aleaga behind. democrats, pay attention. this is your chance to build a